I have always fancied travelling to Tuscany and the hotel that was advertised when booking the holiday back in January looked idyllic - with the hills of Tuscany surrounding the hotel.  I was looking forward to getting out seeing some fantastic scenery, as well as having some relax time by the pool - and some great Italian food.....For me the perfect holiday.

Unfortunately a few weeks before the holiday - we were advised that there was a hotel change - it would still be a 4* hotel - but the original hotel had gone into liquidation.  This change of hotel made a huge difference to the overall holiday experience - and I already note this hotel is not being used for other Walking in Tuscany tours.

The holiday was half board for the whole 7 days. The food both at breakfast and the evening was poor to say the least.....I don't do watered down fruit juice of an indescribable colour!  The evening meals (which we had to order at breakfast) were very much a lottery between getting a poor meal and a really poor meal, and as the week progressed seemed to decline.....perhaps because so many of the meals looked like the ones from the previous evenings.

On Day 6 some of us rebelled to get a decent meal in town - and one fellow traveller made the comment - I now feel I am on holiday - having had a good meal.

The final nights gala meal was a classic - one more course a small appetiser - but then no choice for the rest of the meal - and again along the lines of the rest of the week - only this time we had the chefs parading in front of us (twice!)- for us to show them our appreciation - you couldn't make it up!  The second appearance of the chefs was after the "saltiest" meal I have ever been asked to eat.

I could say a lot more about the hotel - but just one final comment for here and that is to repeat a comment from one of my fellow travellers at dinner one evening "I just feel we are like 2nd class citizens here the way we are being treated".

The other downside to the change of hotel - was the location - which was quite a way from the location of the original hotel - this led to very long coach journeys to most of our walks. I really wasn't expecting to be spending 5 hours on some days in a coach! Really wasn't expecting to be leaving hotel at 7.30 for one of the walks.... and most days we were getting back with less than a hour before our allotted dinner time.

Now to the positives of the holiday - the places we went to and saw were brilliant - we had a fantastic Tour Manager - Sylvia - who for me made the holiday - so much energy so much enthusiasm - still laughing at the memory of her - lightening up one particular long coach journey by teaching us how to communicate in Italian by throwing our arms around in different ways!

In terms of the walks - I would say beware re the comment "some walks will be slightly more strenuous and may involve moderate slopes, tracks and hills, which may be rough underfoot at times".  In my terms - the walk in the forest was more than a "moderate slope".  It may have been moderate but it was a very long walk up the slope!!!

So in summary - my view as a first JY and solo traveller - loved the days out - loved the company of my fellow travellers - and the TM was fantastic.  However, I will be a lot more wary and questioning about the hotels used in future - the length of the days out/start times  - after all it is supposed to be a holiday!!!

Sorry to hear about your bad hotel experience on your first Just You tour. Glad to know that despite this you had a nice time. Hopefully this will not put you off travelling with Just You again.

Kind regards

Jaya

The change of hotel was vey disappointing- and I feel was the reason i felt as if I was on a coach tour not a walking holiday ! I know it's not JY's fault the original hotel had to be pulled but the replacement was just not like for like other than it was a 4 star !!!!

The people made the holiday for me not JY !!! And Sienna and our other 2 walks were lovely - the last one to Pienza was how I imagined Tuscany to be. My other positive is that I tried this holiday withJY before I booked a long haul tour next year to New Zealand - I certainly won't be booking with JY now !!

Hi Chaz

Sorry to hear about your bad hotel experience on your first Just You tour.  Glad to know that despite this you had a nice time.  Hopefully this will not put you off travelling with Just You again.

Kind regards

Jaya

Hi Jaya

Unfortunately - this experience will put me off travelling with JY again ...not helped by the lack of interest in understanding our views of the holiday..... I feel so sorry for the TM's who seem to be putting so much into us having a good holiday - and not backed up by the company behind it making sure that everything else it OK.

I thought long and hard about doing a holiday on my own - (over a year) and really not impressed

I too was on the tour with Chaz and agree with all she has said - but she is more polite than I am ! I thought the hotel although pleasant enough was just not good enough and if you were a vegetarian your choice of meal was omelette or omelette!! The most disappointing element for me was the amount of time spent on a coach on a motorway !! 3 hours to go for a walk in a forest, up a mountain road that had no respite until you reached the top - then you made your way back down very challenging underfoot terrain to say the least ! This wasn't a stroll through Tuscan countryside - couldn't see any countryside for the trees and the fact you had to concentrate so avidly to ensure staying safe you couldn't risk looking anywhere but on the ground !

The change of hotel was vey disappointing- and I feel was the reason i felt as if I was on a coach tour not a walking holiday ! I know it's not JY's fault the original hotel had to be pulled but the replacement was just not like for like other than it was a 4 star !!!!

The people made the holiday for me not JY !!! And Sienna and our other 2 walks were lovely - the last one to Pienza was how I imagined Tuscany to be. My other positive is that I tried this holiday withJY before I booked a long haul tour next year to New Zealand - I certainly won't be booking with JY now !!

Good Morning Ellie B,

I'm so sorry that you have had this sort of experience with JY on your holiday.

Please do not feel put off by our holidays. Like always, we will review our holidays to ensure that they are better for you and other like-minded travellers in the future.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Hi Chaz

Sorry to hear about your bad hotel experience on your first Just You tour.  Glad to know that despite this you had a nice time.  Hopefully this will not put you off travelling with Just You again.

Kind regards

Jaya

Hi Jaya

Unfortunately - this experience will put me off travelling with JY again ...not helped by the lack of interest in understanding our views of the holiday..... I feel so sorry for the TM's who seem to be putting so much into us having a good holiday - and not backed up by the company behind it making sure that everything else it OK.

I thought long and hard about doing a holiday on my own - (over a year) and really not impressed

Hi Chaz,

We hate to disappoint our travellers and always review our customers' travel experiences.

Please do not feel like you cannot travel with us again as we are constantly looking at ways to improve our holidays.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Thanks for the comprehensive and useful review, Karen.  I haven't received my HQ despite a reminder on 4 October [Ed: please do not request another].  I agree completely about the increased journey time resulting from a change to an out-of-area hotel.  I agree with Eileen that this was a coach trip through beautiful Tuscany with a little bit of walking: a material change from the contract and we should have been given full information and an option to change holiday without extra cost.  The spin I was given was that this was good news because the airport transfer was shorter!  Sorry, but 45 minutes on 2 transfer days does not compensate for 90 minutes extra coach journey on each of days 2-6.  

I thought the hotel and its food were fine (but half the group opted to eat out on one evening and at least one had to change from an unacceptable room).  The point about second class citizens was made to me before we had our gala dinner; also a la carte was available. My only complaint was that the food was not hot but then the coldest dish I had was at the Camaldoli restaurant.  Plus the hotel back stairs were unlit one morning (only switch at the bottom!) but I knew about the extra step. The plusses for me were: the very helpful and friendly staff; great bar area (too cold for the balcony) with seating in the lobby and large lounge for quiz night.

I know most people found the forest uphill challenging (we were warned and offered a coach up) but for me and at least one other it was a pleasure to have at last (day 4) a (short) strenuous bit.

I had a great holiday with one of the best TMs ever, marred (because of the extra coach journey time)  by too little time walking, at Florence etc and the rush before dinner.

Paul

I'm sorry to hear that the food at the hotel was not hot enough and that the hotel back stairs were unlit one morning. We will take this into consideration for future travellers on this trip.

Kind Regards,

Amy

I too was on the tour with Chaz and agree with all she has said - but she is more polite than I am ! I thought the hotel although pleasant enough was just not good enough and if you were a vegetarian your choice of meal was omelette or omelette!! The most disappointing element for me was the amount of time spent on a coach on a motorway !! 3 hours to go for a walk in a forest, up a mountain road that had no respite until you reached the top - then you made your way back down very challenging underfoot terrain to say the least ! This wasn't a stroll through Tuscan countryside - couldn't see any countryside for the trees and the fact you had to concentrate so avidly to ensure staying safe you couldn't risk looking anywhere but on the ground !

The change of hotel was vey disappointing- and I feel was the reason i felt as if I was on a coach tour not a walking holiday ! I know it's not JY's fault the original hotel had to be pulled but the replacement was just not like for like other than it was a 4 star !!!!

The people made the holiday for me not JY !!! And Sienna and our other 2 walks were lovely - the last one to Pienza was how I imagined Tuscany to be. My other positive is that I tried this holiday withJY before I booked a long haul tour next year to New Zealand - I certainly won't be booking with JY now !!

Please, Ellie B, don't let this experience put you off going on other JY holidays.   I've been on 14 so far and only one was disappointing (not JY's fault).   Do go ahead and book the holiday in New Zealand - it's been going for enough years now for any gremlins to have been dispersed and always had very good reviews.  

Ann F

The change of hotel had a tremendous impact on the length of time we spent on the coach getting to and from places.  Apart from early starts it also meant by the time we got back to the hotel each evening there was only just enough time to get showered and changed for dinner at 7.30pm.  It may have been an idea for JY to have taken the venue change into account and revisited the itinerary.  The excursion to Pienza, whilst very enjoyable once we eventually got there, meant in total we spent the best part of 6 hours on a coach - roughly the same length of time as the walking/sightseeing.

I really enjoyed the company of the other travelers, and tour manager Silvia was superb.  She mentioned on our journey back to the airport how important it was for us all to complete the feedback questionnaire, as JY as a company value customer opinion and look for ways and suggestions to enhance travelers' experiences.  It's been over 2 weeks since we've returned home and still waiting .....

I'm sorry to hear that you had a few minor faults with this tour, but I'm glad that you had a brilliant time in the company of other like-minded travellers along the way!

I will request that a customer questionnaire be sent to you.

Kind Regards,

Amy

As yet we haven't named the hotel - but I will now as other threads have highlighted this hotel is still being used for future trips - and the JY website is today describing it as "rooms equipped with every comfort" and "restaurant offers impeccable service and delicious food". For a 4* hotel - I would expect water to be available at dinner without having to pay for it - and a free bottle of water in the rooms. I would expect the mini-bar to keep drinks cool. We have said a lot about the food, but impeccable service is not throwing us out of the restaurant at 9pm when some of us were having a chat after dinner - nor coming into the bar at 7.25pm herding us up to get to our table for 7.30 - because "they were busy that night".

For those that want to know it was the Grand Hotel Tamerci & Principe Montecatini Terme.. I am hoping that if JY are true to their word about wanting to improve experiences they will consider the comments on this thread.

I too was on the tour with Chaz and agree with all she has said - but she is more polite than I am ! I thought the hotel although pleasant enough was just not good enough and if you were a vegetarian your choice of meal was omelette or omelette!! The most disappointing element for me was the amount of time spent on a coach on a motorway !! 3 hours to go for a walk in a forest, up a mountain road that had no respite until you reached the top - then you made your way back down very challenging underfoot terrain to say the least ! This wasn't a stroll through Tuscan countryside - couldn't see any countryside for the trees and the fact you had to concentrate so avidly to ensure staying safe you couldn't risk looking anywhere but on the ground !

The change of hotel was vey disappointing- and I feel was the reason i felt as if I was on a coach tour not a walking holiday ! I know it's not JY's fault the original hotel had to be pulled but the replacement was just not like for like other than it was a 4 star !!!!

The people made the holiday for me not JY !!! And Sienna and our other 2 walks were lovely - the last one to Pienza was how I imagined Tuscany to be. My other positive is that I tried this holiday withJY before I booked a long haul tour next year to New Zealand - I certainly won't be booking with JY now !!

Please, Ellie B, don't let this experience put you off going on other JY holidays.   I've been on 14 so far and only one was disappointing (not JY's fault).   Do go ahead and book the holiday in New Zealand - it's been going for enough years now for any gremlins to have been dispersed and always had very good reviews.  

Ann F

Thank you Ann but that will not be happening and the lack of concern for their customers by JY has added to my disappointment

Good Afternoon Kaz25,

I'm sorry to hear that you had a few minor faults with this tour, but I'm glad that you had a brilliant time in the company of other like-minded travellers along the way!

I will request that a customer questionnaire be sent to you.

Kind Regards,

Amy

Amy , I think the fact that you describe our concerns and opinions as 'a few minor  faults' just proves how little JY care about their customers or their feedback ! We booked with JY for the walking in Tuscany experience the fact that the brilliant time we had with other like-minded travellers was down to us not JY !!

I can assure you that we always take board anything our customers say and we will redirect any feedback we receive to a relevant team at JY.

Warmest Regards,

Amy

The hotel itself was in a holiday resort, nothing like the boutique hotel set in the Tuscan countryside we'd been expecting.  I think we would all accept that what happened with the original hotel was outside JY's control, but this was very far removed from what I was expecting - especially as it had been pointed out that we'd be getting a superior hotel without having to pay more.  It was clean enough but quite basic in my opinion.  Some people experienced noise from nearby cafes/bars into the early hours, which luckily didn't affect me.  Solely for this reason I didn't complain about the fact I only had a single bed as opposed to a double or king-sized - which everyone else seemed to have - as I figured that was a better option than risk having a disturbed night's sleep.

So I think it's fair to say the issues were slightly more than minor.  I feel lucky I ended up with such a nice group of people whose company I really enjoyed.  This wasn't a cheap holiday, and I'd been looking forward to it for months, but it in no way lived up to my expectations and I've been left feeling rather disappointed to say the least.  I felt I was on a coach tour of Tuscany rather than a walking holiday, which I think someone else has also commented.

I'm sorry to hear that your recent Just You holiday did not live up to expectations.

I have forwarded your message to our Customer Care Team who would like you to e-mail them on feedback@justyou.co.uk so that they can investigate and address the problem which you have raised.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Once again it appears that JY’s lack of attention to detail, when sourcing the replacement hotel, has led to the problems which have been identified in the review, and left these unfortunate customers feeling extremely disappointed.

Amy’s comment of ‘a few minor faults’ is poor in the extreme, and perhaps indicates the level to which JY’s standards appear to have fallen. And while investigations may well be carried out as a result of this customer feedback, it doesn’t alter the fact that any improvements made for future travellers will have come all too late for the September group. When will JY understand that they need to be proactive in order to reduce problems - not reactive? These continual problems should just not be happening in the first place!

Mike